Thread: My first project, volvo s60 t5 carpc install thoughts

hello everyone

i've decided to embark on my very own carputer journey. i figured i'd write up my plan so far, both to collect my thoughts and perhaps to get some advice along the way.

i've recently purchased a 2001 Volvo s60 T5 which i love, so i'm a little nervous about modifying it. therefore, reversability (being able to undo what i do) is a big concern for me. another concern is cost. while i want this to look clean and work great, i don't want to spend too much cash. that being said, i have a decent laptop lying around to use, so i figure i wont have to spend money on the actual computer. all i need is power, cabling, and a monitor.

i would like to install the laptop some place discreet, like mounted in the trunk. i plan to pull out my in dash cd changer, buy a face plate that fits the compartment, and fabricate the faceplate to fit a liliput or xenarc 7" touchscreen lcd. since i'm pulling out my cd changer and i wont be able to run sound through it, i am supposing that i will need to put in an amplifier to power my speakers. i guess that can go in the trunk, mounted next to the laptop. i was also thinking it'd be nice to find a place to mount a slot loading laptop dvd drive in side the car. i will buy a usb 2.0 enclosure for the drive and install it someplace in the dash, perhaps in the same cavity as the touchscreen.

power seems to be the most important aspect of the car pc project. i've not decided wheter to use an inverter or to buy a dc adapter for my laptop and run a cable from my battery. i would want to have the system auto start when the car starts. i've seen that you can buy kits that will power on your pc in such a way. i'm still not too sure how to hook this up, but i know i can do it.

so, by the end of all of this, i'd like to have the following functionality

-gps
-mp3 playback
-dvd and digital video
-wireless networking
-gaming (various emulators with a wireless logitec controller)
-voice recognition (maybe eventually)

so it seems to me that if i can figure out the power issues, i can get all this done for $500 or less (mostly the cost of the monitor, with some cabling and whatnot also). any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

thanks